


See You Spinning Around in Your Head

by Madam_Chauncey



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Assumes they had a casual flirtation while in the Organization, But she is, Elrena tries to pretend she isn't interested, F/M, Features a walk around Radiant Garden, Lauriam isn't as hesitant, Romance, post kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 17:19:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18077675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madam_Chauncey/pseuds/Madam_Chauncey
Summary: Lauriam tries to pick back up where Marluxia and Larxene left off, but Elrena needs some convincing.





	See You Spinning Around in Your Head

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after KH3, so I guess I should give a spoiler warning even though nitty gritty plot things aren't really discussed. This story functions on the idea that Larxene and Marluxia developed a casual touch-and-go relationship that began during their coup attempt and picked back up during their days in the real Organization.
> 
> This couple has really grabbed hold of me in the last couple of weeks so this idea drove me crazy until I wrote it down. This ship needs more love imo so I hope everyone enjoys. Don't forget to drop a kudos if you feel so inclined and let me know about any comments/critiques/thoughts you may have.

Marluxia was dead—happily so.

Lauriam, however, was very much alive. After all of the conspiracies and backhanded coup planning, who knew letting Sora win would have finally led the Nobody to where he wanted to be?

Marluxia had thought he needed to fight through and pick up the pieces later. Lauriam now understood that he had truly only ever wanted his life back. Now he had it, and only one person was missing.

He had no clue if it was possible to bring Strelitzia back, but he would definitely do whatever he could to accomplish that.

That is why upon recompletion and regaining consciousness, he had made his way to Radiant Garden—if there was anyone in the world who could give him any advice, it would be the man who had started it all: Ansem the Wise.

He was no scientist, but they knew he needed lodgings, needed something to occupy the time away from the Organization he now had, so he became an assistant of sorts. They also gave him free reign of the gardens and funds to maintain them, and now that he was Lauriam again he remembered clearly his affinity for plants and things that grow.

He had accepted the mantle happily.

But today was different than the ones that had come before. He had some time off—unable to find a proper way to occupy himself in the big, empty castle, he decided to take a stroll around town.

It was getting late; the retreating sun had streaked the sky with his sherbet sunset and a calm breeze had picked up, blowing the man's pink locks.

He had felt his heart stir as Marluxia; the thing desperate to reclaim its hold. However, feeling the same breeze he had felt as a Nobody was incomparable to feeling it now as whole being once again.

His had cut his hair to rest just below his jawline, not unlike how Lauriam used to wear his, deciding he needed a change. He tucked a wind-swept strand behind his ear.

Leaning against the trunk of a tree in the square, he watched children play and chase each other in the fading daylight.

The former Dandelion closed his eyes, taking in the earthy smells mixed with the nearby smells of food coming from open air stalls. Surprisingly even to himself, he almost felt himself drift off before a tinkling voice broke him from his relaxation:

" _Marluxia_?"

The man quickly opened his eyes, turning toward the voice.

In a particularly captivating beam of twilight stood a familiar blonde.

"Larx—Elrena." He quickly corrected even though she had used his Nobody name.

She looked much the same, sans the black hood he was so used to seeing her in. Seemed odd to think that way, since he knew her even before their Organization days, when they lived in Daybreak Town as Dandelions under Master Ava.

When the former Nobody finally made it to his side, she crossed her arms.

"You look different. New haircut?"

"Among other things. You look good."

She shoved the broad-shouldered man. "Easy, Tiger. This is the first time I've seen you in a month."

Lauriam pressed his lips into a thin line. Had it already been a month?

Parting from her had been the only prospect of his recompletion that he hadn't looked forward to. Seemed odd, as polar opposite as they appeared to be, that they had sought comfort in each other toward the end.

He felt heat rise into his face as he remembered the cozy nooks that they found for themselves—talking heatedly about the coup was what brought them together at first.

Then after they both found their way back to the Organization, the meetings naturally picked back up, but differently this time.

Although their hearts hadn't had enough time to carve out a new space within their reestablished Nobodies, those little nooks became dens for stolen kisses and tentative flirting. To what end, Lauriam hadn't been sure. Perhaps they were feeling the beginning stages of loneliness and gained something in being together.

"Left you that speechless?" she teased him, pulling him back into present day.

He looked at her, the alluring, mischievous smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. She had always been flippant and casual about their relationship, if you could have called late night meetings and heady romantic tension that occasionally bubbled over a "relationship."

Elrena hadn't been the most sentimental, either; it was no surprise she didn't seem nearly as affected as he about their past connection, even as a Somebody.

"Would you like to walk with me? I could show you around."

His companion sighed. "I guess, for old time's sake. It's not like I have anything better to do."

Lauriam grimaced. "I am indelibly touched by your enthusiasm."

"Ugh. Why does everything you say have to sound like a poem?" she complained, but he could tell her heart wasn't in it.

But his was. She looked as beautiful as ever, albeit just as barbed. He never expected her to leap into his arms, but maybe it had been foolish to expect that they could pick back up where they left off.

Not wanting his face to betray his musings, he mustered a laugh in response to her jab. "I'll try to keep it at a minimum."

Hand pressed against her small shoulder, he led her in the direction of the most picturesque stroll he knew of.

* * *

 

Even she had to admit, Radiant Garden lived up to its name.

Lauriam looked like he belonged here. Elegant and graceful, he guided her smoothly down the boulevard. There hadn't been many words between them, save for his occasional unnecessary information about a particular plant or tree that they walked past on the way, or him explaining whatever service the nearest random, cramped little shop he pointed out provided.

"You seem to know a lot about this boring little town. Don't tell me you've put down roots already."

His taken aback expression told her all she needed to know. Of course he had. Marluxia had always wanted to be reunited with his heart, while Larxene had thought the whole fuss about the thing to be unfounded.

Elrena wasn't all that different from her Nobody. Truthfully, Lauriam wasn't a big departure from Marluxia, either. The man still spoke in that peculiar calming tone of his, always polite, even while taking care of the Organization's dirty work and swinging that scythe of his around like he was born to be equal parts graceful and lethal. Then there was the slight edge of arrogance Marluxia wielded so effectively; she saw the faint remnants of it in his Somebody.

She wondered if Lauriam still housed the same quiet passion. Logic would dictate that he would have to have Marluxia's and then some, but Elrena had yet to see it.

Marluxia had happily conceded to her whims during their flirtation as the chosen ones in the real Organization's last hurrah. If Larxene had been the instigator, he had been the one to dive in headlong. She knew him, knew his endless pursuit of his own humanity drove him to get attached.

The Keyblade Graveyard wasn't as ideal as a huge castle to sneak away, but it was vast enough. And while they didn't have much spare time, they made what they had count. Larxene had enjoyed the distraction, and perhaps a part of her had enjoyed having some stability to lean on, as infuriatingly different from her as he was.

More than once she felt his eyes on her when she wasn't looking and picked up on his quick shifting gaze when she did happen to notice his fixation.

Maybe she wasn't the most perceptive, but she knew something was different. While he could put up an impenetrable wall of deceit as Xemnas knew all too well, he'd made the mistake of not bothering when it had been just the two of them.

"I figured, why not? Everyone I have worked with in the past is here." He answered finally, and Elrena became acutely aware of his large, warm hand that still sat on her shoulder.

"What about you? What brought you here?" came his next question.

She honestly had no clue, and she hated the unknown. Perhaps she'd heard from some mutual friend that Lauriam was hanging out in Radiant Garden, maybe she'd heard everyone should see the sunset there at least once. Maybe she was just wandering around, wondering what to do with all this humanity she never asked for.

His touch suddenly felt burning and heavy against her skin, and she quickly freed herself from the contact that made her chest clench uncomfortably once she had become aware of it.

Elrena turned to look at him, the surprise plain across his face.

"Is everything alright?" the way concern creased across his brow only served to annoy her.

The woman crossed her arms, trying to swallow a lump of emotion that had reared its head the moment he looked at her in that stupid, easygoing way of his.

"It's absolutely peachy. But can we wrap this up? Kinda got other places to be."

Lauriam let out a long breath he had apparently been holding in. "Of course. My apologies. Didn't realize I was keeping you."

He approached her tentatively, standing closer than some hidden part of her liked. She pushed against his chest, which didn't work against his large frame, but he took a step back anyway to indulge her.

"Someone bring back Marluxia. At least he had a backbone."

Lauriam squared his jaw. "What's that supposed to mean exactly?"

Elrena huffed. "Only interested in Larxene I guess. Circumstances not dire enough for you to care about me now that you've got the heart you'd been dying to get back?"

The pink haired man laughed mirthlessly. "Care? Since when did that concept matter to you? You were using me as a distraction."

Angered, she shoved him again. This time he actually lost his footing and had to collect himself from the force.

"Says who? Maybe I wasn't some lovestruck bimbo, but I didn't just go around necking anyone in an Organization robe, either. Jackass."

"What are you so upset for?" she could tell that Lauriam's carefully maintained control was faltering.

Elrena hissed. "Upset I fell for it. Guess it's not really your fault."

"Fell for what?"

She rolled her eyes, gesturing to him. "That whole gooey-eyed routine, the "us against the world" crap. Either I was naïve, or you were sending mixed signals, and I'm definitely not naïve."

His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. "Guess I didn't play the part of aloof as effectively as I thought."

"Obviously."

The breeze picked up his scent and carried it to her. He smelled like clean and fresh flowers and spice.

"The issue is," he began. "I never really wanted to play aloof in the first place. Anything else I thought was sure to scare you off, and Laurium lacks the courage to risk burning bridges now. No Organization keeping you planted here means you could spread out and fly away without a reason to ever come back."

Elrena huffed. "Maybe I still will. Maybe I won't. What's it to you?"

Lauriam laughed, a genuine chuckle this time around, puzzling her further, and Elrena couldn't help but think happiness looked so dumb on him. Why did her pulse choose  _now_  of all times to quicken?

Feeling suddenly determined to demonstrate something to herself, she wordlessly grabbed him by the shoulders of his shirt, fisting the fabric of the pristine white button up and pressing him against the brick wall nearest them before claiming his lips with hers.

The Larxene part of her rattled somewhere inside, remembering quiet corners and clandestine meetings where two people without hearts chased their phantoms.

Lauriam finally broke from his trance, hands finding her slim waist as he returned the kiss. She began to feel floaty and happy, damn him. Larxene could never sort out if she and Marluxia had anything real together, or if the excitement of their deceit and sneaking around was the true proprietor of whatever had been between them.

The familiar excitement fizzled traitorously in her core anyway.

Not expecting to feel the same as Elrena as she had as a Nobody, she quickly pushed away from him.

He stood there, slack jawed, his carefully maintained poise thrown out the window. He blinked at her curiously, surprised, as he waited for her to explain her erratic behavior.

"I was trying to prove it didn't mean anything, you jerk."

Lauriam licked his lips. "And did you?"

"None of your business."

Her companion cocked his head to the side, pushing off from the wall and approaching her again. "Maybe you need more to go on. We'll probably need to repeat the experiment many times before you have enough data for a true answer."

Elrena swallowed hard. Surely he wasn't implying what she thought he was. "What are you even saying?!"

He was standing close to her again, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing the closeness had any sort of effect on her, so she refused to back away.

"I'm saying that I miss us together. Stay with me and see where things go."

Elrena huffed and she felt the blood drain from her face. "Stay as _what_? Your toy? Your friend? Or something else equally as ridiculous?"

"All of it. None of it. Whatever you want."

The blonde bit her lip, averting her gaze from his intense blue one. "Idiot. You don't know what you're asking."

"And you're scared."

Elrena scowled. "Not a chance!"

She pursed her lips, remembering the kiss from a few minutes ago. It had felt foreign somehow from the ones they had shared while in the Organization, yet still the same.

"Aren't you the least bit curious? At worst, we part ways amicably. At best, well, I promise to make it  _very good_."

The woman quirked a brow at what she intuited as a double meaning, whether intended or not. "Well how about that? You've clearly been pining away. Let me guess: got the heart but no one to share it with?"

The warm, musical laugh that followed felt like it was rearranging her insides, nipping her teasing jabs in the bud.

He made no response, no denial, just held out his large hand and conceded the next move to her.

Elrena blinked, throat catching as her companion stood there, waiting. No pressure; he just became like marble statues stationary in the square, bathed in the fading sunlight as she floundered in the duality of her mind.

 _Flutter, flutter_.

"Hearts are nothing but trouble," she thought out loud, but took the hand presented to her anyway.

Lauriam smiled, looking almost smug, and began to lead her down the boulevard once more, nudging her gently.

"Mm. I've always liked a little trouble."

He looked pointedly at her as he said the word "trouble," and Elrena rolled her eyes.

The easy smirk he wore seemed to beg to be kissed away, but she decided to make him work for the good bits from here on out. After all, something worked for was something valued, right? If she was going to stick around and play some idiotic love game, it was going to be for keeps—no placeholders, no excuses.

She knew her worth and if this was going to work, Lauriam needed to know it too.

She squeezed his hand ruefully as their walk through Radiant Garden continued.

There was a comfortable air between them, an air that prickled with a tentative, slow burning pull, and despite the fact that they were in an open square, it felt like the two former Nobodies were in their own little bubble.

Elrena felt like she should be running as far away from this as possible. It was too strange, too close, too  _everything_.

But Lauriam's entire aura seemed to wrap around her like a blanket as it tried to convince her that there was something better ahead, that there was something to the humanity he wanted so badly… not so very different from when the two of them had gotten the idea that maybe the Organization's hierarchy and goals needed some rearranging in what seemed like a lifetime ago. Maybe it had been.

Truth be told, a part of her still thought the whole idea was garbage, but there were worse things to endure than having a handsome, broad-shouldered pest vying for your attention. Maybe she would be surprised at where the path took them.

So Elrena decided to let lie.


End file.
